General Manager - North America, Personal Care - Ashland, LLC

Are you the kind of person that is always thinking, sketching, seeking, and adjusting? Who needs to understand how things work and then figure out how they can work better? Are you a passionate, tenacious, solver who loves to work with others who share your drive? Are you positive, constructive, and ingenious?

Are you always solving?

Then we’d like to meet you and bet you’d like to meet us.

Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a General Manager – North America:  Personal Care business.  This will be a hybrid position based in our Bridgewater, NJ location for in-office hours.  This is a very visible, significant role within the Company and the Commercial function.  This position will report to the SVP and GM, Personal Care.

The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Serve as a key member of the Personal Care senior leadership team and share responsibility for division-wide business priorities.
• Full P&L responsibility of the business including both short-term and long-term financial results.
• Establish and drive the monthly Personal Care – North America S&OP process to achieve financial, strategic, innovation and net working capital targets.
• Partner with Global Marketing, R&D and other functions to identify, develop, and drive key strategic initiatives to enable sustainable, profitable growth for the Personal Care – North America.
• Develop, update and implement a comprehensive strategic plan to increase revenues and profits.  Own and lead the Personal Care – North America medium / long-term strategic agenda.
• Partner with global marketing and R&D to complete on-going assessment of our existing portfolio and define product innovation plan to address gaps to meet short term needs as well as develop the appropriate product portfolio aligned with the business unit strategy Personal Care – North America.
• Partner with global marketing and R&D to support the annual New Product Introduction (NPI) FY business target process to define a FY NPI target based on product, region, customer and financial target details.  Own and lead the actions to deliver on FY NPI targets for Personal Care – North America.
• Identify and assess potential business opportunities utilizing market research, business intelligence, competitive and scientific analysis.
• Collaborate and develop strong relationships with human resources, finance, and other center-led functions to ensure effective partnerships and alignment.
• Evaluate and ensure the organization has the competencies and structure required to implement the long-term strategy to ensure strong alignment between services and product offerings, market segments and customer-specific needs.
• Drive accountability for the selection and development of talent and succession within the organization to ensure an effective, sustainable model and talent pipeline. 
• Actively engage the organization and travel locally and regionally to support the organization, collaborate with internal partners, and serve customers.  Establish and maintain strong relationships with major customers.
• Establishing a culture of Safety and Quality throughout the business.

In order to be qualified for this role, you must possess the following:

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in a scientific discipline or marketing and equivalent experience
• At least 20 years’ experience working in the chemical industry
• 7-10 years experience working in the personal care industry is required
• 5+ years of P&L leadership
• Be well networked and recognized as an industry leader
• Possess strong problem solving, business acumen and communication skills
• Strong learning agility with prior experience in applying experience skillfully to new situations and across multiple business models
• Ability to lead and coordinate different functions and leaders with an integrative approach. 

The following skill sets are preferred by the business unit:

• Demonstrated leadership experience working in a global environment, including leading and engaging teams in a virtually.   
• Having previous experience in matrix organizations
• An advanced degree, preferably an MBA, is preferred

In more than 100 countries, the people of Ashland LLC. (NYSE: ASH) provide the specialty chemicals, technologies and insights to help customers create new and improved products for today and sustainable solutions for tomorrow. Our chemistry is at work every day in a wide variety of markets and applications, including architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, personal care and pharmaceutical. Visit www.ashland.com to see the innovations we offer.
 
At Ashland our vision is to be a leading, global specialty chemicals company whose inspired and engaged employees add value to all we touch. In fact our people, employees, customers and vendors define who we are. They are the driving force behind everything we do.
 
Not only do we value our customers but we value our employees, and we work to offer them a dynamic and challenging environment. We hold ourselves to high standards at Ashland, and we value integrity and honesty.
 
Ashland has a history of attracting the best people and keeping them. The reasons are simple: industry competitive salary and benefits, pay-for-performance incentive plans and a diverse work environment where employees feel challenged and valued. People come to Ashland and stay. As a growing Fortune 500 specialty chemicals company, we offer opportunities for development and advancement throughout our global organization. Our values define who we are and what we care about as a company. If you are looking for a relationship with a company instead of simply a job, this may be a great fit.

Ashland is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer Minorities/Women/Veterans/Disabled/Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation. 

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. NOTE:  We do not accept resumes from external staffing agencies or independent recruiters for any of our openings unless we have a signed recruiting agreement in place to fill a specific position.